All metallic glasses are metastable materials which will transform into crystalline metal materials given enough activation energy. The kinetics of the transformation of a metallic glass to a crystalline material is governed by both temperature and time. In conventional TTT (Time-Temperature-Transformation) plots, the transformation often exhibits C-curve kinetics. At the peak transformation temperature, the devitrification is extremely rapid but as the temperature is reduced the devitrification occurs at increasingly slower rates, due to generally log-time dependence of the transformation. The peak transformation temperature is generally found using analytical techniques such as differential thermal analysis or differential scanning calorimetry.
If there is a desire is to transform a glass then the glass may be quickly heated to a temperature at or greater than the peak crystallization temperature causing the glass to devitrify into a nanocomposite microstructure. Depending on the composition of the glass/alloy, a specific microstructure may be formed which will yield a specific set of properties. This conventional type of transformation is well known. If a different set of properties is needed, then a new alloy is designed, processed into a glass and then the glass is devitrified.